Veteran actress Abhinaya Sharade Jayanthi, fondly known as Jayanthi, died at her residence in Bengaluru on Monday. The actress was 76 and passed due to age related ailments.
Known for her work in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies, Mourning the actress, Jayanthi was popular with all the South Indian actors. Telugu screenwriter Gopi Mohan tweeted: “Veteran heroine Jayanthi (76) garu, known as #AbhinayaSharadhe passed away due to health issues. She acted in more than 500 films in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. Maa Intilona Mahalakshmi Neeve, Anuraga Devatha Neeve are famous songs of Jayanthi garu #OmShanti.”
In her career spanning five decades, Jayanthi worked in over 500 films. She was among the lead actresses in the Kannada film industry from 1960 to the 80s. Born Kamala Kumari in January 1945 in Ballari, Jayanthi made her acting debut with YR Swamy’s 1963 film Jenu Goodu, which fared well at the box office. Her next hit was Kannada film Chandavalliya Thota alongside her co-star of many films, Dr Rajkumar. The duo worked together in over 30 films.
About her performance in Tamil film industry, Jayanthi co-starred with legendary actors like Gemini Ganeshan, M G Ramachandran, Muthuraman and Jaishankar for films such as Padagoti, Mugaraasi, Kanna Nalama, Punnagai, Velli Vizha and Iru Kodugal.
Lal Lal Bangla and Tumse Achha Kaun Hai were some of her films in Bollywood.
Jayanthi also delivered several Telugu blockbusters such as Jagadeka Veeruni Katha, Kula Gauravam and Kondaveeti Simham with late Telugu actor N.T. Rama Rao, who later became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Jayanthi won Karnataka State Film Awards seven times.
